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Sunday, February 9, 2014

My Top 10 Movies of 2013

And here we are at last- once again,
despite massive delays, it’s time to throw all objectivity aside so that I can
gush about the 10 movies of 2013 that I loved the most.Thus far, I have seen 42 movies from 2013, 32
of which I reviewed for this blog.Sadly,
due to the persistence of an archaic international release schedule, I am still
not caught up on all the major Oscar nominees, nor have I had the opportunity to
see either Fruitvale Station or The Wind Rises.As such, it is only right that I start by
apologizing for the absence of said films from this list.Should any of them make enough of an
impression to merit a changing of this list (when I am able to see them), it
shall be updated post haste. Click here for my own personal awards post, released last month.

In order for a film to qualify for
this list, it had to meet one of the following conditions; it had to get either
a theatrical release OR a festival premiere in either the US or Germany anytime
between January and late December 2013.
This means that movies that premiered at festivals like Nippon,
for example, were eligible, even if they never got a theatrical release. This also means that movies likeFirst Position and Blancanieves, which initially came out
in festivals and other countries in 2012, were eligible as well, because both
got a theatrical release in Germany in the summer and fall, respectively. Yeah, those are pretty loose rules, but I
decided to do it this way anyway, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to put a
third of my list on here.

And of course, as always, everything
that follows is my opinion, what I think right now as I look back at the long
list of films I saw this year. There are
other, equally good (or even better) movies from this year that are not on the
list, likeBlue Is The Warmest Color, Wadjda or Captain Phillips, not because I didn’t
like them, but simply because I personally didn’t love them to the same degree
that I did others.

All I knew walking in to this one
was that it was a silent, black-and-white Spanish version of Sleeping Beauty, and when I walked out,
I knew that I’d seen a modern silent masterpiece of a film. Blancanieves
is a wonderful reminder of the visual power of this medium, how simple looks
and brief shots, when done right, can convey so much more than any piece of
exposition. I already gave the
villainous mistress a shout-out in my Awards post, and while she is the
biggest scene stealer, Sofia Oria brings the right amount of sweet innocence to
her role to keep things balanced. It’s a
crime this movie isn’t as widely regarded as The Artist.

Wolf
of Wall Street, along with 12 Years A
Slave, was one of the hardest movies to watch this past year without flinching. It is an exuberant bundle of energy that
manages to never let up for three whole hours, something very, very few
filmmakers are able to achieve to any degree of success. DiCaprio and Hill bring in career-best
performances, and it may one day top The
Departed as my favorite Scorsese work.
It’s a shame the Oscar ranks are so crowded this year, because while I
would still rather see the acting awards go to 12 Years a Slave, DiCaprio’s Oscar is long, long overdue, and I
can’t help but wonder if and how he’ll manage to top this one.

What else can I say about Key of Life to get you all to see
it? I laughed more than I did watching
any other film this year. All three of
its leads are funny, hapless, adorable, and sympathetic, all at once. It has Stooges-esque stapstick. It has hilarious dialogue. And it left me with that wonderfully warm,
fuzzy feeling that so few movies manage to give me.

This year’sLife of Pi/Avatar, Gravity is my kind of big-screen,
special-effects spectacle. Set in space,
probably the most philosophical place in the universe, carried by the best
performance I’ve ever seen from Sandra Bullock, and achieving an astonishing
degree of technical perfection, Gravity was
a buckshot of reality to the face of every other major 3D movie of the year
(yes, even Pacific Rim), resounding
proof that big budgets don’t have to be lavished on repeated action beats. Its own unique kind of space epic, this movie
has me even more pumped for Nolan’s next film, Interstellar, set to come out this year. No, the projects, aren’t related, except that
I assume Interstellar will have to do
with space. Sorry, I’ll stop digressing
now. Gravity. Loved it.
Favorite soundtrack of the year too.

If I did an award for biggest
acid-trip, this movie would have just edged out the boggling visuals ofThe Congress, because while the insanity of that movie took up a full
two-thirds of the running time, L'Écume
des Jour never leaves its world of malleable everything. I could do a whole commentary on the social
and cultural undertones present in some of its more interesting scenes. Also, I’m a big fan of movies that unabashedly
shift genre and tone with little warning, which happens several times over the
course of the movie, and this movie did that better than any other I saw this
year. Now a film for everyone- it’s
in-your-face weirdness will be off-putting for more than a few- but if you are
up for it, it’s one hell of a trip.

5.
Her (Spike Jonze)

This movie deeply affected me, and
if I could allow myself any more time in formulating this list, I would quite
possible feel compelled to put this movie higher, but this list is over a month
late, and I really, really need to get onto my Oscar post as soon as possible. So for now, it’s getting the number 5 slot,
although I may revisit this list in a couple of months once my thoughts have
settled (and my Oscar angst has been purged from my veins with fire).

That said, even though it was the
last film of 2013 I saw prior to compiling this list, few other movies of the
year had me feeling so reflective afterwards.
Spike Jonze has only made four feature-length films so far, but all of
them have provocative, enriching, and engaging in all the right ways. Her
is a powerful look at the nature of love and relationships, saying far more
about the subject than every single Nicholas Sparks book and/or movie put
together. Joaquin Pheonix gives a
performance every bit as emotionally powerful as his turn in last year’s The Master (sadly, he was denied another
nomination this year because the Academy would apparently rather nominate David
Russell’s used spoons than give a piece of the limelight to an actor that
actually deserves the gold), and Scarlett Johansson (as only a voice, mind you)
gives the best performance of her career.
I wish this had come out earlier enough for me to give it a review. Ah well.

Any movie that makes me cry harder
than I have EVER cried during the credits has earned a Top 5 spot on a list of
mine. This is the most brutally accurate
depiction of slavery ever put to film, but its merits go beyond that. The acting is as powerful as anything else
from this year. Hans Zimmer, so derided
for his liberal usage of tubas in other movies, turns in one of his best
efforts to date.
And Steve McQueen has further established himself as a major rising
talent. This should be essential viewing
for all juniors and seniors taking American history in the near future.

3.
Much
Ado About Nothing (Joss Whedon)

Joss Whedon has given us a perfect
example of how to “modernize” Shakespeare- that is, to place it in present
times, with modern dress, settings, and speech patterns- without losing the
essential nature of the story and characters.
This might very well be my favorite film adaptation of Shakespeare yet
made, with all due respect to Kenneth Branagh’s immensely impressive body of
work. It’s cleverly and beautifully
shot, and even the ridiculously stupid male leads, who essentially drive a girl
to “suicide,” get moments of real sympathy, something I thought impossible
after I first read this particular play.
A shame it’s gotten zero love from the awards rounds.

On a side note, what a surprisingly
good year for black-and-whites. That just
occurred to me, actually.

Likelast year's mental duel betweenCloud Atlas andLincoln, this was a close, close call between my top two. This is a new favorite of mine from the Coen
Brothers, still my favorite set of directors in the business today (excepting
Miyazaki). It’s a surprisingly underplayed
tale of mediocrity and frustration, and about the seemingly endless loops our
lives often appear to fall into. Oscar
Isaac has given us one hell of a breakout performance, and I can’t wait to see
what he does next. The soundtrack, as
much a focus here as it was in O Brother,
Where Art Thou, also deserves special mention, and was my second favorite
of the year, second only to Gravity.

But yeah-
despite how much I love Inside Llewyn
Davis and Much Ado About Nothing,
despite how powerfully effective I found Gravity,
Wolf, and 12 Years to be- from the moment I saw this dark, gripping work at
Nippon way back in June, a part of me knew I’d already seen my top film of the
year. I mentioned in my review that the
movie utilizes a new form of hybrid animation, with backgrounds done in
watercolor and characters rendered with CGI, which is fascinatingly well-done,
but my love for this movie goes far beyond admiration for its visuals. There is a tragically beautiful irony that
the main character, even more violent and depraved than Belfort or Epps, is
forced to confront the evil he’s done not by being punished or hurt himself
(his own capacity to endure physical pain seems endless), but by watching the
effect it has on the few people he genuinely does care about. It’s a brutal, stark film, one of the most
creative animated works I’ve seen in years, and it is my favorite movie of
2013.

And there you have it! My 10 favorite movies from 2013. Hope you enjoyed reading, and feel free to
leave comments below. I will be doing
Oscar catch-up this month, but I’ll only review any that really leave a big
impact on me. Otherwise, this month will
feature my picks for the Oscars, and, sadly, a collective farewell post for
several performers we’ve already lost in an incredibly short space of time this
year. But that’s for another day.